Kirkus Reviews QR Code
BOSS LADY'S ARRIVAL AND SURVIVAL PLAN by Jo Foxworth

BOSS LADY'S ARRIVAL AND SURVIVAL PLAN

By

Pub Date: Nov. 19th, 1986
Publisher: Warner Books

A shallow follow-up to Foxworth's 1977 Boss Lady. Foxworth, who has run her own ad agency, has come up with a series of Do's and Don'ts for women executives and those who work with them. It's the kind of advice that will make Boss Lady's blood boil: ""Do shake hands. . .for some reason this makes women feel businesslike."" (Probably for the same reason it makes men feel businesslike.) Another gem: ""Do ask if she needs change when she starts to the telephone or ladies room."" (Oh, come on.) Foxworth wants to help female executives who've had to face patronizing--and sometimes downright hostile--co-workers. But she comes up with some of the most patronizing remarks herself: ""Try not to bother the Boss Lady with problems at the end of the day because as it nears 5 p.m., she is waging the battle of the dinner--Land who's going to take responsibility for it."" What is one to make of advice like that? Granted that most women still feel responsible for running a household, but that's not her point. The fact is, a woman executive is going to be no more--and no less--distracted and unable to make decisions at the end of the day than a male executive who's running to make the 5: 35. With advice like this, who needs male chauvinists? Or any kind?